kew gardens

The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew are the most complete public gardens in the world. Their reputation was first established by Sir Joseph Banks, the British naturalist and plant hunter, who worked there in the late 18th century. In 1841, the fomer royal gardens were given to the nation and now display about 40,000 different kinds of plant. Kew is also a center for scholarly research into horticulture and botany. Kew Gardens is a magnificent plot of land that has been set aside for over 150 years. It is a Royal Botanic Garden and is akin to the U.S.’s National Parks. Many of the gardens were not in bloom when we visited but it did not take away from the beauty of the grounds (all three times). The stands of coniferous trees and gardens of crocuses were simply magnificent. We were lucky enough to visit during the orchid exhibit that was being presented. Kew was, by far, my favorite place to visit in the city.

This was taken from the ground looking upward toward the ceiling of the Palm House. The plant was just a magnificent site that you had to stretch your neck to look upwards at. It looks like it would be a small flowering plant but it was a HUGE tree! The Palm House was designed by Decimus Burton in the 1840’s and is considered a jewel of Victorian engineering - and, I must say, is VERY warm on cold winter days!

You would think that a pagoda would be out of place in the middle of London…but it’s not if it’s within the Garden’s walls. It was built by William Chambers in 1762, following the time-honoured tradition of Britain’s fascination with all things of the Orient. It is a beautiful structure that seems to fit right in and makes the scenery all the more beautiful.

The Temperate House is an amazing building that holds trees and plants from all over the world. This building dates from 1899. It holds delicate woody plants arranged according to their geographical origins. There are two pictures here because the building is so large…but keep in mind that they are connected.

Behind the Temperate House is the Evolution House, which was interesting to me. The British don’t count billions the same way we (from the US) do. For us, a billion years is 1000 million, right? For the British, one billion years is one million million. So, instead, when entering the Evolution House, it says, “Beyond is 3500 million years of history” instead of “3.5 billion years of history”. (Note: It’s actually 4.6 billion years of history but it was built quite some time ago and the knowledge we’ve gained has changed the time scales!)